Bald Cypress II

[Mellow Mullet]

Really great to know - it's fascinating what a large range in climate they will tolerate. Grand Rapids to South Florida! Amazing.

Anyway, I wouldn't bother with seeds too much. You can buy seedlings by the hundreds for pretty low cost and have them shipped bare root.

http://www.coldstreamfarm.net/bald-cypress-taxodium-distichum.html

They are pretty easy to grow from seed, you can have 12-16 inch seedling in in season if you start early. All of mine we grown from seed.

John

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Update:

After looking at this thread, I realized that I haven't posted any pictures in a while, so here is where it is today. Back in Feb or March I chopped this one hard because I was not happy with the trunk and I want to make a shorter (for a bald cypress) tree, it will still be pretty tall, I am shooting for 24 - 30 inches, or less. It spent the whole summer growing in a tub of hot, stagnant, oxygen-deprived water and it LOVED it! It grew like a weed, putting on some trunk girth and the leader grew from a twig to almost as big as my thumb:





It also made a decent stab at closing the wound at the chop:





The plan is to let it grow some more next year to thicken the leader more and close the wound, then another chop. I will try to post more updates on this one. What do you think?

John

 

[JoeH]

looks great, how tall is the point where you made the trunk chop? I have one at about 3 feet tall I am thinking of reducing some more.

 

[Wilson]

Vigorous! Do you already have an idea of how far from the first chop you will make your second cut? Also will you plan on encouraging movement/directional change, or keep it straight? Looks great so far!

 

[Mellow Mullet]

looks great, how tall is the point where you made the trunk chop? I have one at about 3 feet tall I am thinking of reducing some more.

I think it is 12 inches or so, I will measure it today. Either, the best time to chop is in the spring.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Vigorous! Do you already have an idea of how far from the first chop you will make your second cut? Also will you plan on encouraging movement/directional change, or keep it straight? Looks great so far!

Yes, I think it was on my other thread that @ColinFraser mentioned that it should be approximately 1/2 the length of the previous chop, for good taper. He is right, so I will let it grow thicker and then wack it. The new leader is too thick to bend now to bend. If you look closely you will see that I put some movement into it but it was not exaggerated enough, the tree took most of it out as it thickened. When adding movement to fast growing trunks, make it more exaggerated than you think you need--hard knock bonsai lesson #124. I will add some movement to the new leader after the next chop, but I will try to match this one.

 

[Giga]

Yes, I think it was on my other thread that @ColinFraser mentioned that it should be approximately 1/2 the length of the previous chop, for good taper. He is right, so I will let it grow thicker and then wack it. The new leader is too thick to bend now to bend. If you look closely you will see that I put some movement into it but it was not exaggerated enough, the tree took most of it out as it thickened. When adding movement to fast growing trunks, make it more exaggerated than you think you need--hard knock bonsai lesson #124. I will add some movement to the new leader after the next chop, but I will try to match this one.

I chop things litterly inches from the previous chop. Makes crazy taper and bladies are vigorous growers.

 

[JoeH]

I think it is 12 inches or so, I will measure it today. Either, the best time to chop is in the spring.

I was going to repot when is dormant in the spring then maybe chop it, not decided yet on that.

 

[ColinFraser]

Yes, I think it was on my other thread that @ColinFraser mentioned that it should be approximately 1/2 the length of the previous chop, for good taper. He is right, so I will let it grow thicker and then wack it. The new leader is too thick to bend now to bend. If you look closely you will see that I put some movement into it but it was not exaggerated enough, the tree took most of it out as it thickened. When adding movement to fast growing trunks, make it more exaggerated than you think you need--hard knock bonsai lesson #124. I will add some movement to the new leader after the next chop, but I will try to match this one.

Nice
I don’t think it has to be exactly half necessarily, but yes, each distal (farther from the trunk) segment should be shorter than its nearest proximal (closer to the trunk) segment.

 

[GGB]

@Mellow Mullet got any pics of the wound at this point? Chopped/carved up a bunch of mine and I'd love to get an idea of how long the healing will take

 

[Mellow Mullet]

@Mellow Mullet got any pics of the wound at this point? Chopped/carved up a bunch of mine and I'd love to get an idea of how long the healing will take

As a matter of fact, I do. I actually took some pictures this past week but have not gotten around to processing them for posting. I am working today, when I get home this evening, I will post one up. The wound has completely calloused over.

 

[Fonz]

Great thread so far. I'm trying to grow a BC from seed myself. Did you grow this one in a container or did you ground grow it?

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Great thread so far. I'm trying to grow a BC from seed myself. Did you grow this one in a container or did you ground grow it?

Always grown in a container. I use oil change pans from Dollar Tree for training.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

@GGB, here it is:



Just waiting on the new leader to thicken a little more and I'll chop it again. I think I am gonna make this one a traditional flat-top style.

John

 

[GGB]

Thanks for taking the time to post. These trees are a favorite of mine, and I owe a lot of what I learned to you. Crazy how fast they develop, even up here in PA